The present invention pertains to automotive visors, and particularly a visor elbow for mounting visors to a vehicle.
Vehicle visors are typically mounted to the headliner of a vehicle and supported by the underlying sheet metal roof using an elbow bracket which permits the visor to be moved from a forward windshield position to a side window, depending upon driving conditions. There exists numerous visor brackets and torque controls that are designed to allow a visor to pivot from a stored position adjacent the vehicle headliner to selective lower use positions. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,820,197; 5,765,897; and 4,614,196 are among those patents that disclose vigor mounts and/or torque controls for pivoting a visor.
Visors frequently include a variety of accessories, such as illuminated vanity mirrors, garage door opening transmitters, cellular telephones and the like. Such accessories integrated into visor bodies add to the weight of the visor. Furthermore, such accessories require an electric source for powering the accessories. Most of the accessories are powered by pairs of electrical conductors which are themselves connected to feed wires hidden in the headliner. These conductors may pass to one side of the sun visor support arm, but for reasons of appearance it is preferable to hide them in hollow metal pivot rods which may act as the second conductor which is connected to the ground.
Another prior method of making a support arm is to mold plastic material over a solid metal insert. The insert then constitutes one of the electrical feed conductors for the sun visor. In this case, the second conductor is provided via the other sun visor support rod which holds the end that is distant from the support arm by cooperating with a clip fixed to the roof. This solution has the advantage of providing a visor support which is particularly strong, however it suffers from the drawback of requiring good electrical contact to be made with the clip when the accessories are to be powered, and power is not available unless the rod is engaged in the clip.
Visor support arms also have had two conductors passing along the inside of a molded polymeric material extending over a portion of the conductors in such a manner as to encase the conductors. In one proposal, the polymeric material is molded over at least a portion of the conductors by injection in two stages. In a first stage, a polymeric material is molded over two electrical conductors in a first mold to obtain a support arm blank in which the material constitutes a block with the portion of the conductors. The blank has at least a portion which is smaller in section than a corresponding section of said support arm. The second stage consists of the blank being overmolded by polymeric material to complete the support arm. The drawback of this system is that it does not provide sufficient mechanical support for heavier visors which contain electrical accessories or glass mirrors and it requires several steps in the manufacturing process.
Other visor elbows have been suggested which are made of hollow tubular members supporting conductors for an illuminated vanity mirror and overmolded to complete the elbow, or a multiple component visor rod with a solid core with recesses for receiving conductors over which a sleeve is molded.
There exists a need, therefore, for a visor elbow which is relatively inexpensive and capable of providing a source of electricity for visor accessories, yet providing additional support for the added weight of visors having accessories mounted therein. Further, with the increasing sensitivity to the cost of vehicle components by manufacturers, it is desirable to have a visor elbow which is relatively inexpensive and requires less materials.
The stamping reinforced polymeric molded elbow of the present invention solves the need for a relatively inexpensive elbow which is capable of satisfying the design criteria for modem vehicle visors. It accomplishes this goal by providing a visor elbow made with a metallic reinforcement over which a polymeric elbow is molded. The reinforcement is preferably shaped to provide strength and to allow conductors to extend therein. Further, the stamped reinforcement may serve as a carrier in the method of manufacturing such an elbow.
These and other features, advantages and objects of the present invention will be further understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art by reference to the following specification, claims and appended drawings.